Tuesday, January 05, 2010

TWD—Cocoa Buttermilk Birthday Cake AND Tarte Tatin and a GIVEAWAY

Today marks two years since Tuesday’s With Dorie began! Although I didn’t start baking with the group until October of 2008. I have had a wonderful time in the kitchen being part of this fun group. Our leader, Laurie of slush, had an online vote for which recipe we should do today. Tarte Tatin was picked by a landslide. Laurie SO wanted cake to be our two year celebration recipe. So she decided we could make either one or BOTH.

I made both.

First, I made the Tarte Tatin (pages 313-314, Laurie will have the recipes available). I wanted to make this because I had never made something like it AND when I saw that Dorie suggested using a cast iron skillet for it, I couldn’t pass it up. Kevin just gave me a cast iron skillet for Christmas, so what a wonderful thing to use it for for the first time. I made it with apples, as suggested. I thought the apples were a little soft when all was said and done and I also thought they were a bit too sweet, that being said, I still really liked the tarte and so did the others who tasted it. I made this on New Year’s Eve, hurried and took a few pictures of the whole tarte (and they don’t look very good).

Okay, I just looked at my pictures of the whole tarte again and they really look so bad that I can’t even show you (let’s blame it on really bad lighting). But I did snap a few shots later of just one slice of the tarte and they don’t look so bad. I cooked the apples in the skillet and threw in some cranberries just for color.

I used puff pastry for the crust. Hmm, still don’t love the pictures. Well, I have to say, this isn’t the prettiest looking thing. But, again, it was good and it was fun to make something new.

Okay, let’s move on to CAKE. Laurie’s choice was the Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake (pages 256-257). I made half a recipe and that made 10 cupcakes. I didn’t change a thing with the recipe (SURPRISE!) and I did add the two extra ounces of melted chocolate.

We had company over for dinner and cupcakes for dessert. While everyone ate them and said they were good, they sure left a crumbly mess all over! I tasted one and thought they were okay. I want a really chocolaty, moist cake, these just seemed a little dry and crumbly, but even Kevin (the “cake hater”) ate one and said it tasted pretty good, then even he made a little mess on the floor! ;) The best part was the frosting and I actually made that up (didn’t use a Dorie recipe), the reason being more because I was a little pressed for time, so I just whipped up some frosting. I didn’t use a recipe, but here’s the simple, duh, things I used, sometimes I don’t even measure, so here’s a good guess.

Katrina’s Quick Chocolate Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch salt

4 tablespoons half and half (that’s just what I grabbed in the fridge, milk would work fine)

Beat all ingredients together in the bowl of an electric mixer except the half and half. Mix that in one tablespoons at a time until frosting is desired consistency. Scrape sides of bowl and whip for a good two minutes.

Don’t let me fool you, that’s a pretty nice picture there. I really stink at piping icing on cupcakes! I only did a few, then just spread it on the “old fashioned” way with a butter knife. I think part of my problem is that I don’t have the right size tip for my piping bag.

I kept wanting to try all week to make a cute snowman cake or something, but it just didn’t happen. I was happy to just get the cupcakes done and the tarte tatin. I’m glad I was able to do both. Thanks again, Laurie, and all of the TWD group. I’m having such a great time with this and thank ya’ll for stopping by and cheering me on! Now……it’s GIVEAWAY time!

Check out this giveaway. Ya’ll will remember (You remember, right? ;) that back in September when I went to the Food BlogHer conference in San Francisco, I also had the opportunity to attend a Night In Napa at the St. Supery Winery. This was sponsored by Bertolli Frozen Meals/Ogilvy Public Relations. Oh, and Rocco DiSpirito was there, too! While I don’t drink wine, I was really glad I got to attend this wonderful evening, meet lots of fun bloggers, and taste some of Bertolli’s Frozen Meals.

I think it’s okay to choose sometimes to have “a night in”, rather than dine out. I also think there are times in our busy lives where certain convenience foods are necessary as well as pretty darn good. Bertolli thinks so, too, and they want to reward one lucky reader some things so you can create that stay-at-home evening with your significant other. Here’s what you will win!

Cuisinart Skillet

KitchenAid Countertop Oven

2 Riedel wine glasses

1 bottle of St. Supery wine

2 sets of Emile Henre plateware

1 year supply of Bertolli Frozen Meals

Leave me a comment letting me know what you would do if you had a night-in with your significant other. I want to know by this Thursday, January 7, 2010 (9 p.m. CST). This contest is (sorry) only open to US residents ages 21 or older. Make sure in your comment you leave me a way to contact you, should you be chosen as the winner. I will announce the winner on Friday. Sorry, Rocco DiSpirito not included. ;)

117 comments:

Tarte: cranberries - LOVE that idea... you always come up with the most interesting additions. Cake: those look better than my dense (dry?) cake, especially with those swirls and sprinkles (festive)! Significant Other: does the giveaway come with a SO as well? Are those without SO's ineligible?

Hey Katrina, I love your blog! Thanks for sharing...This giveaway is super cool! I also love staying home with my hubby after the kids are tucked into bed. We usually end up sitting across from each other while he hits the books (he is still in school for 4 more months!!) But one of our favorite things to do is eat yummy food with a redbox movie and popcorn. That would be wonderful!

It seems like a lot of Dorrie's chocolate recipes are actually not very rich in chocolate. That's surprising. As usual, I'm with you on wanting more of a chocolate kick. I'm bought some coconut flour after seeing your brownies w/same. Can't wait to try it -- making coconut chocolate chip muffins this week. Will use some regular flour along with the coconut flour, though.

My husband is a PhD student and I am the primary wage earner in our family, so all of our nites are nites in. But for a special nite in, we always light candles just because it seems romantic. There is usually some music playing. And just to add to the cliche, we usually snuggle on the loveseat next to our fireplace. Can you tell we don't have kids?!

As for the night in, I would make dinner while my fiance either watches, pops in a movie, or plays on his PS3. HA! Light candles and get the hot oil burner going. Then we would grab the wine, dinner and head over to the couch to watch a movie, eat and snuggle under a blankie. Sounds boring, but it really is quite nice!

Love your blog! Your cookies (and the pictures alone) at Christmas time made me want to try something new myself!

If I had a night to stay in with my husband (and our 1 year old either went to bed early or was with a sitter), I'd do all the things we haven't been able to do since we had our baby. I'd cook us a great meal (maybe some cornish hens) that took longer than 10 minutes to prep, and I'd break out a glass of sparkling apple juice, set a beautiful table, play some music or listen to a podcast of Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe, and just enjoy an evening of good food. Then we'd watch a movie with some popcorn and actually be able to watch it from start to finish without having to get up to tend to our son every half hour. Yep... that would be a good night!:)

I'm tempted to try this recipe for my daughters BD next week but I read a few posts where people were disappointed. Now I'm rethinking that decision. Great giveaway though!!! I would love an relaxing night at home with the hubs and just eat and watch movies. Sounds like a perfect evening to me. :)

My husband and I get hardly any time alone thanks to his 14-hour/day work schedule and 2 little boys. So, if I could have a night in with him, I'd love to have a nice dinner, some wine, and hopefully an uninterrupted conversation!

Generally all our nights out are actually nights in, but with the baby coming soon (hopefully) we'll be spending more time in. We'd probably pop in a frozen dinner and maybe pick up some cheesecake or a yummy dessert with some hot chocolate after!

What a nice tart and cupcakes..I should have known you would bake them both..nice!OK so this giveaway looks fantastic..so excited!!My night in with hubby would start with a good game of cards(rummy or spades)chinese dinner(takeout ) of course Im not cookin! A good game of tennis or bowling on the WII..read our book together(we pick a novel to read together)..eat something really fattening and good and end it up with a nice walk in the mountains behind our home!!

The cupcakes look great - I made the cake into cupcakes, too! And the tarte tatin turned out well. Some day I'll try that one :) A night in...I'd probably make something yummy for dinner, drink some wine, and curl up on the couch with the hubs to watch our latest netflix movies!

We'd start the evening cooking a comforting meal or baking delicious treats together and then move on to watch an incredibly corny movie that would keep us laughing the whole time. Sometimes acting like a kid with each other is much more romantic than candle lit dinners in a fancy restaurant.

Wow! What a giveaway! It's just the two of us and we've watched a lot of movies lately as we just subscribed to Netflix, so I would invite our dinner gang (three other couples) over and share the bounty with them.librarian288@yahoo.com

Your tart looks great, next time I am using the puff pastry to see how that works out, it looks great. Love the cranberry idea as well. My guys LOVED this cake and frosting, who knew, they are not usually cake lovers. I like your little sprinkles. What a nice giveaway...Do you really have to ask what I would do with a night at home: a nice candlelight dinner with pasta & seafood & salad, reading in front of the fireplace (it happens, both history nerds), and I will leave the rest to your imagination. LOL. Happy New Year!

My perfect stay-in date with my husband would be to have the kids stay the night at grandma's and then we would have a delicious lobster dinner that I prepared. Followed by a little wine and a little dessert! After that, we would cuddle on the couch and watch a Chic flick that I picked out. Ok...so that would never happen...watching a chick flick with my husband but a girl can dream!!!!

Really cool giveaway! So glad you got a cast iron skillet - I love mine in more ways than I can count. It ranks right up there with the Kitchenaid mixer - really! As for what I would do with a night in with the hubby - watch a movie, open a bottle of wine, and then proceed to have a well-humored argument about whatever strikes our fancy. (we do this fairly often - debating might be a more appropriate term than arguing.) :)

The tarte looks gorgeous! I think the whole thing was probably beautiful! I found the cake to be dry, too :( The frosting looks great! And if I had a night in with my SO, we'd curl up on the couch with our dog and watch Friends on DVD!

What a fun prize! I think we'd pop a bunch of popcorn and curl up on the couch and watch a movie and play some games. Definitely take advantage of the quiet (we'd be handing off the kids to someone I'm sure)!

I'm a single gal these days, so a night in would be solo--for now, but not forever. I think we forget to make meals and evenings special when it is just us alone. So, in this relationship down time, I am my own significant other. As such, I would treat myself well: a nice bottle of wine, a field greens, pear, walnut and bleu cheese salad with balsamic vinaigrette, followed by a simple grilled salmon fillet, served with lightly cooked asparagus and Israeli cous cous cooked with wild mushrooms & dried fruit. I'd take my dessert, which would be your gorgeous Tarte Tatin, and an espresso, into the living room and watch a fun movie like Love Actually, and visualize sharing my next great meal with a special guy who appreciates this special gal.

My husband and I haven't had many "night's in" he has been deployed for over two years of our 4 year marriage and we lived in two different place while we awaited his much anticipated release from the military, which we are so excited has finally happened and he is home, almost 3 years apart and we are relishing every moment together. Our perfect 'night in' is having a nice low key dinner, nothing to fancy (easy clean up), playing games on the Wii together, watching a movie, and just being in the same room, it doesn't matter what we are doing, we are just happy to be together. We have learned in our relationship that there is nothing more special than just getting to spend time together, whether it be just the two of you or with your kids, this are the moments you will remember forever, the rest of it is just a cherry on top.

If I had a night in with the hubby I would like a really yummy dinner but I can't figure out at the moment what it would be. An awesome dessert maybe one of your cupcakes and a movie. Hopefully I could stay up during the whole movie.

A night in would be nice with Chris. he's been working so much lately. Any night with good food, cuddling and watching a movie would be our choice. While I don't drink wine, it would be fun to have the wine glasses to have some good ol' Martinelli's. :) (Oh, and i think you are an excellent piping, far better than I could do. And blaming the lighting for the bad picture is a good idea, everything I have ever had of yours is delectable)

I think the Tarte Tatin recipe may be a little short on apples. Usually it's about 3 lbs. of apples in a 9" skillet. And definitely sweet, tart apples. Very nice giveaway. We have a lot of nights in alone and enjoy a nice dinner, glass(es) of wine, and a good movie (many classics).

Thanks for the heads up on the giveaway! I read all your posts - Sam cracks me up! Joe and I would love to win this giveaway - since the babies every night is a night in! It would be fun to spice it up!

My husband and I both love Italian food and would love to spend the evening eating Italian with a little wine on the side. My son would love the Italian (sans the wine!)Maggie Middletonmaggie_1755@sbcglobal.net

Way to go making both recipes! The tarte was tasty, but just not very photogenic. Your cupcakes are cute. Sprinkles add the cute factor, don't they?

Very cool giveaway! The majority of my evenings are evenings in with my husband. To make it a little bit of a special night in, I make something nice for dinner, have some wine, and we watch a movie. Oh, can't forget the Duraflame log in the fireplace. We're easy to please!

Your cupcake decorating looks good to me! I'm so impressed that you made both recipes, but I concluded long ago that you in fact don't sleep. If we had a night in, we'd light a fire (I know, BAD for the environment), eat chicken tikka masala from our favorite take out and talk.

Bravo for making both choices this week. I love the part where you didn't change a thing, except add more chocolate!A night alone, with out kids... that calls for a visit by the massage therapist and a good bottle of wine.Mimi

What a great prize! I'm still bummed about not getting invited to the winery since I'm an Italian food loving wino, but glad to have friends like you who share their free booze. I liked the St. Supery a lot. Here's my entry into your contest.

"For our date-night-in we would sit on the couch and watch a documentary like "Medici Godfathers of the Renaissance" and drink wine.

A night alone with my husband? I'd start with getting a grandparent to watch my 3 young kids! We'd spend time cooking together (something we love but rarely get to do), enjoy a delicious meal, a bottle of wine while watching a movie, and enjoy the peace and quiet.

I so wanted to make both the cake and the tarte, so I am definitely going to make the tart for next week. Who cares if I have to eat it all myself?

The only good, moist, chocolate cake recipe I have ever come across (and it comes recommended from the owner of "Sweet & Saucy", is Ina Garten's Chocolate Cake. It's the very first recipe I posted on my blog! It works every time and is never dry. It uses vegetable oil instead of butter and I think that definitely helps.

Living in the city, my husband and I enjoy our nights in. After working hard all week, the weekends at home are heavenly and just for us. I choose not to cook on those days so that I can spend extra time snuggling with the hubs while watching a movie, playing card games, or just sharing our lives with one another. Right now, though, we have been getting into shape on our nights in, playing our new wii fit! This has been super fun and provides us with more laughter, I think, than exercise, especially when we play the hula hoop. Whatever we are doing, we do it together....intentionally, building on our marriage and wanting to make this thing called love truly last.

I think your tart looks good! You did an awesome job piping the frosting on the cupcakes too!

Your giveaway is very cool! A night at home alone with Grumpy happens often since the kids are gone, but I would make it a special night with candles, fancy decorated table and wine for me and then to spoil the sound of all things romantic - beer for Grumpy. ;-)

Thes treats look divine Katrina. As for a night in with my husband - we like to start with some good wine, dinner at the table (as opposed to in front of the TV) and a special meal we can have a nice conversation over.

Well kids (15 & 11) would have to go over to my sisters house for the night to have a night "alone". We rarely get time away from them but we won't complain since they are teens and still like us. lol We'd have dinner; him grilling a couple sirlions, me making some stuffed potatoes, salad and green beans over a candle lit floor in the living room. Something we've never done heh go figure. Then we'd have mousse or ready whip (heh), since he doesn't have a sweet tooth. Next would be a couple of games of pool, finally a movie that would be a comedy or romantic comedy if I had my way. And of course acting like we are younger and at the movies with some popcorn and necking/cuddling on the couch. Lastly BED. woohoo!

This is a dream of mine...have a night in with my husband rather than leaving to "get away from it all". Our sons would be someplace else spending the night so that we wouldn't have to wait until they went to bed to have quality time together. We'd make a good supper together, chat about our day, and then actually sit and relax while watching a movie. I usually do something during the time that we watch movies, if I watch one at all.

If I had a night in with Eric, I would cook him and I a Bertolli Frozen Meal in a Cuisinart Skillet, and serve it on Emile Henre plateware. We would eat our dinner and drink St. Supery wine in Riedel wine glasses and watch movies. The perfect night in!

Like most of your recipes I would take the night in with my SO and add caramel and ice cream to it. Not like that, (!) but I'd take the frozen meal itself and add a little something extra. Isn't that the best part about them? That they do most of the hard work for you so you have time to be creative and still lend a personal touch to a meal? Knowing my husband and I, that would include adding a bit of cream (shock!) to the sauce to make it seem more decadent than it really is. There'd be a fire going in the fireplace, our best friends, and we'd play Scrabble until the wine was gone. Without kids, we have lots of nights alone. Having a night where I could invite our friends over would be the best.

If I had a night in with my hubby (without our 2 month old), I would want to be able to have the first anniversary night we never had. On our first anniversary, I was due 11 days later, so we really never got the nice night we always thought we would have. I would want to cook, hang out in lingerie, and do the whole romantic dinner, movie, dessert, and well....If we were home with the baby, it would still be just a warm, snuggle in the jammies, with a cute movie, and nice dinner (on the living room floor like they did in the movie No Reservations)

Our oldest daughter (10) is handicapped. This makes going out to dinner next to impossible. (She has a VERY LOOOOONG reach!) Finding babysitters willing to watch her is not very easy. That paired with the economy effecting my husbands work (he's a concrete contractor) makes for nights out not happening. If I were the lucky recipient of this prize, I would definately pull strings to find someone to take the littles and I would make it a special night! Since I wouldn't have to spend so much on dinner (thanks to Bertolli), I could spend the afternoon making a divine dessert... something decadent with chocolate. Then we could remind each other what it is that made us fall in love with each other.

ooh cupcakes! My favorite! I was actually going to mention that I thought you should try a larger icing tip--it makes it SO much easier to pipe! I also like to throw a little meringue powder in the frosting, to make it a little more conducive as well. It doesn't affect the flavor at all, but makes it a lot prettier. You can check out the last ones I made here--so easy! http://experimentarianism.blogspot.com/2009/08/sugar.htmlAnyway, epic comment, but on a night in , my husband and I love to make easy omelets or homemade healthy chicken fingers and "fries", eat ice cream sundaes and watch a CSI or Law and Order on our Netflix. We are so lame :) Thanks for the giveaway friend! xoxo

I was just in Seattle over New Year's and had a tart tartin made with Honeycrisp Apples...it was amazing

A night in is such a luxury for my SO and myself that we usually celebrate it by cooking together, sharing a meal and curling up together on the couch to watch the hours of tivo'd programs we never seem to have time to watch...and we'd have Hot Cider later to round out the evening.

Hi Katrina, I really enjoy your blog! My long-distance boyfriend and I used to spend evenings surfing the internet and sending each other interesting recipe finds, but now that he has recently moved closer we are looking forward to working our way through that "yummy foods to try" list!

Of course you made both Katrina, ahahahah! Of course! I love tarte tatins, they're just so homey and conforting, I love them! That frosting looks gorgeous!!! And you did fool me, the pipping looks very nice, lol!

I need to try and make tarte tatin too!! And the cupcakes look delicious! You should use the Wilton 1M.. I've been wishing for that since forever, unfortunately, no Wilton in India! If not for that, I prefer the slathered on with a knife look anyway!